


When Death Came Knocking

by miss_grey



Series: Willowsbend [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: I'll warn for sadness just in case, M/M, Officer Dean, Officer!Dean, Witch Castiel, maybe sort of sad?, witch!cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-20
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 19:55:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1660526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_grey/pseuds/miss_grey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of the Willowsbend 'Verse.</p><p>Dean Winchester is head of the Supernatural Unit for the Willowsbend police force--it's his job to protect the residents of Willowsbend, and he takes his job seriously.  Except, there are some things that even Dean can't protect them from.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Death Came Knocking

**Author's Note:**

> Title from this song: http://grooveshark.com/#!/search/song?q=David+Keogh%2FAdrienne+Adair+death+came+a+knockin

 

 

I

            She rolled in, not like a storm with thunder crashes and lightning strikes to announce her presence and shake those around her to their very cores, but softly, so softly that her presence may have gone unnoticed in any other place.  But in a place like Willowsbend, where everyone knew everyone else, an unknown person was likely to draw attention no matter how they arrived.

            There was nothing overtly ominous about her, really: she was perhaps an average 5’6” with bobbed black hair, a petite face with pointed chin, and clear hazel eyes.  She wore blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a black t-shirt.  She strolled into the Roadhouse an hour after the lunch rush and sat herself in a middle booth where she waited patiently for Keeley Neustadt to deliver a menu.  The woman’s voice was pleasant with a very calming cadence, and she was polite when she ordered a glass of water and a plate of fries.

            It wasn’t her looks that alerted Ellen Harvelle to the strange nature of the woman, nor her temperament, or even her actual presence.  It was the way she ate her French fries.

            She plucked each one methodically from the plate with long, delicate fingers before swiping them through a glob of ketchup that painted their ends red.  She examined each one for just a moment, almost lazily, like she didn’t quite care what she was looking at, before she popped them into her mouth and chewed softly.  In between bites, her eyes flicked lazily back and forth across the bar, but they did so in a way that suggested she wasn’t looking for anyone or anything in particular, but rather simply taking everything in.  In fact, when her eyes met those of another patron, she looked at them with the same amount of interest that she afforded each individual French fry.  Her gaze was not hostile, but rather, considering.

            There was something in her gaze that unnerved Keeley, something about the way that she seemed to exude power in her gaze without it being obvious in any other way.  Because Ellen was the kind of boss that she was, she offered to take over that table when Keeley mentioned the strange vibe.  So Ellen pasted on her best hostess face, walked over to the booth, and popped her hip casually as she smiled at the dark-haired woman.  “Hey there hun, everything alright here?  Can I get ya anything else?”

            The woman lifted her gaze to Ellen’s, and Ellen felt a chill go through her whole body, but she couldn’t put her finger on just why.  The woman smiled, but it looked…wrong, somehow.  Fake, like it wasn’t a normal expression for her.  “Everything is fine,” she assured.  “Although I wonder if you could perhaps help me find someone?”

            Ellen eyed her carefully for a moment and nodded.  “I can try.  Who are you lookin’ for?”

 

 

 

II

            Dean was on his lunch break when the call came in.

            He was leaning comfortably against _Delecto_ ’s front counter, sipping a mug of fresh coffee and flirting with Cas when he was interrupted by the shrill ringing of his phone.  Dean sighed and flipped his phone open, rolling his eyes dramatically at Cas.  “Winchester.”

            “Dean,” Benny’s gruff and slightly twangy voice came over the line, “looks like we got a case.”

            Dean quirked a brow.  “Really?  What’s up?”

            “Ellen just called.  Said some strange lady was in the Roadhouse asking questions about Janey Smith.”

            “Huh.”  Dean bit his lip for a second, then “Did Ellen say why she thought this was one of our kinds of cases?”

            “Nah, just that the lady gave everyone the willies.  Anyway, Dean, we better get over to the Smith farm.  Ellen said the lady just left.”

            “’Course.”  Dean murmured.  “I’ll meet you there.”  Dean flipped his phone shut and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

            “Is everything alright?”  Cas murmured, edging around the counter to come stand in front of Dean.  Cas laid his hands gently on Dean’s shoulders and Dean immediately felt some of the tension in his body melt away.

            “I dunno.  Looks like I got a case.”

            Cas frowned.  “Be careful.”  He laid his right hand over the charm that Dean now wore around his neck and it seemed to hum with the power that Cas channeled into it.  “Let me know what’s going on?”

            “You bet.”  Dean smiled at Cas and leant forward to brush his lips against his lover’s, not even caring that the entire Women’s Club was watching with rapt attention.  Cas sighed and melted against Dean for just a moment, and then Dean pulled back just enough to whisper, “I’ll see you tonight.”  He winked, and Cas blushed, and the Women’s Club tittered like Dean and Cas were their favorite soap opera. 

            Dean left _Delecto_ with a smile on his face.

 

 

 

 

III

            Dean drove as fast as he could out to the Smith farm, and when he arrived he found Benny’s police-issue SUV already parked in front of the house.  Dean drew his gun, not sure what he would find, as he ascended the steps to the house.  Before he could twist the knob, though, the door opened and Benny motioned him inside, saying “She ain’t here.  It’s just us and Janey.”

            Janey handed Dean a glass of lemonade when he came into the living room and she shrugged.  “Officer Lafitte said that there was a woman looking for me, but I can’t imagine who it could be.”

            Dean smiled reassuringly and took a sip of the lemonade.  “Well, if it’s alright with you, Janey, I’d like to stick around for a while, just in case.”

            “Sure,” she smiled, “make yourselves at home.”

 

 

 

 

IV

            They didn’t have long to wait.  Only twenty minutes had passed when there was a knock on the door.  Janey rose to answer it, but Benny motioned for her to stay seated while he went to the door.  Dean drew his gun again, at the ready as Benny pulled the door open.  “Can I help you?”  Benny drawled.

            A woman’s voice answered, “Is Janey Smith here?  I would like to speak with her.”

            “Who’s asking?”

            “Tessa.”

            Dean flashed a look at Janey but the woman only shrugged, just as confused as the rest of them.  Dean cleared his throat and called “Let her in, Benny.”

            Benny took a step back from the door and a woman followed him in, each step soft but deliberate.  When Tessa stepped over the threshold, her eyes flicked uninterestedly over Dean (strange enough on its own because he still held his gun) and landed on Janey.  Tessa smiled, but it looked sad.  “Janey Smith,” she murmured, taking another step forward, “you and I need to talk.”

            Dean felt a shiver go up his spine at the words, but he wasn’t sure why.  Across the room from him, Benny’s spine stiffened and he said “Now you hold it right there.  State your business, right now.”

            “What is it?” Dean growled, “What is she?”

            Benny opened his mouth to reply but Tessa beat him to it.  She focused her eyes on Dean and said, clearly “I’m a reaper.”

            Dean’s chills intensified at the pronouncement.  This was not something he was equipped to deal with.  Reapers were the embodiment of death.  There was nothing he, a human, could do to stop a reaper or deter one.  The gun that Dean held so tightly in his hand was useless.  From the lore he’d read, one touch from the creature and he would drop dead.  Still, Dean gulped and took a step forward, placing himself between the reaper and Janey.  “Janey Smith is happy and healthy,” Dean said, fighting to keep his voice steady, “so what do you want with her?”

            Tessa stared at Dean with deep, unfathomable eyes, eyes that held more than emotion—infinity stared back at Dean, and it shook him to his very roots.  “I have business here.”

            Dean clenched his teeth, honestly terrified, but determined to hold his ground for as long as he could.  He was on the verge of protesting once more, when Janey spoke up.  “You’re here for _her,_ aren’t you?”

            Tessa tilted her head in acknowledgment.  “I am.”

            “Will she be alright?”

            Tessa smiled that sad smile again.

            “Who?” Dean and Benny both demanded at the same time. 

            Janey glanced at Dean just for a moment before she refocused on Tessa.  “The spirit that haunts the snow globe.”

            Dean gulped, suddenly remembering what he’d seen before—the sad woman touching the globe and standing vigil at the window, waiting for someone who would never return to her.  The woman was a spirit, sure, but everything in Dean screamed at him to protect her anyway.  He didn’t want this reaper anywhere near the woman.  “There’s gotta be another way.” 

            Tessa turned her hazel eyes on Dean.  “You are a good man, Dean Winchester.  I can see that about you.”  She tilted her head.  “But there is no other way.  This is how it is supposed to be.  Now, I will ask that you step aside.”

            Dean cleared his throat and clutched the gun tightly, even though he knew it was no good.  “I can’t.  It’s my job to protect the folks of Willowsbend, Supernatural or otherwise.”

            “That’s honorable, Dean, but you shouldn’t presume to know all the ways of the world.  The realm of the living is where you hold jurisdiction, officer.  The ways of death are beyond you.”

            “So I should, what, just let you take that spirit, no questions asked?”

            Dean would remember the way that Tessa looked at him then, for the rest of his life, when she murmured, kindly, “I have a job to do, too.”

 

 

 

V

 

            Against his better judgment, Dean waved for Benny to stand down, and they all watched, confused and on-edge, as Tessa made her way over to the snow globe.  As she drew near, the spirit of the woman manifested, and she looked suddenly alert, but bewildered by her surroundings.  “Where am I?”  She asked, voice eerily pitched.  “I feel like I’ve been lost for so long.”

            “You have been,” Tessa agreed, “But I’ve come to take you home.”  Tessa reached out and smiled at the woman.  “Come, take my hand, and everything will be alright.”

            A wobbly smile curled the woman’s lips and she reached out, slipped her own hand into Tessa’s, and a look of utter relief washed over her face.  Dean wasn’t sure what he was expecting—perhaps a flash of light, or something violent, a scream—but all that happened when the two women’s hands touched was that the spirit slowly faded until she was no longer there.  After, in the shocked, awed, silence, Tessa turned to Dean and said “Now I will take my leave.”  Dean stood, frozen for what seemed like forever, waiting…and then Tessa added, “I will see you again, Dean.”  Then she took her leave from the house, even closing the door behind her as she went.

            The room was silent after Tessa’s departure.  After all, what was there, really, to say?

 

 

 

VI

            That night, Dean curled himself close around Cas on the sofa in Cas’s apartment while they watched some documentary on tv.  Cas was drowsing, eyes drooping shut occasionally, and his breathing had calmed.  Dean inhaled the scent of Cas, and held him, enjoying the warmth and weight of Cas’s body in his arms.  Cas was alive, so very wonderfully alive.

            And Dean was thankful.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!


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